Nigeria, June 28, 2016 – A bricklayer by name Femi Adebowale was today sentenced to death by hanging.
He was convicted on four count charge of conspiracy and armed robbery and others contrary to Section 295(2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State. Delivering judgment on the matter, Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye said the minimum penalty provided by the law is death for each of the four accounts.
“In accordance with the provision of the law, you are hereby sentenced to death by hanging by the neck until death. May the Lord have mercy on us”, she said.
The Prosecution, Mr. Akin George had accused Adebowale of robbing one Alhaja Amudalat Olowo-Eyo of gold jewelries valued over N500,000.00; cash totaling N350,000.00 and other valuable documents at gun point.
The prosecutor said the convict, with others at large, robbed their victims on December 28, 2012 between 1.00 a.m. and 2.00 am at their residence, 10, Aiyetolu street, Abule Egba, Lagos.
During trial, the complainant , Alhaja Olowo-Eyo had told the court how the convict and others at large robbed her.
According to her, she and her family were gathered together in the pallour and told that their lives will be wasted if they refused to cooperate with them. She said she identified the convict as a bricklayer brought in by her landlord for the renovation of the house two days before the incident.
She said that after the robbery, her husband was able to pin one of the robbers down, a situation that gave her courage to also hold on to another robber next to her.
In order to free himself, she said the robber shot her twice in the chest but that God kept her alive. She explained that colleagues of the convict who escaped came back 20 minutes later and rained bullets on their apartment. She said one of her daughters was hit in the stomach, another on the back while her son was hit on the thigh.
Ruling on the matter Justice Ipaye dismissed on alibi and sentenced the convict to death “by hanging by the neck until death” stressing that the prosecution has proved his case beyond reasonable doubt.
